Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Yesterday was all about Kentucky basketball (just typing that out, I think, "Aren't they all?"). We played our first of three games in the Maui Invitational, and we played it well. That we had 21 points within the first 4 minutes is an indicator that we have no shortage of offensive weapons. What we are short on, as I have alluded to before, is a center.

That's not to say that we're short. In fact, we've got a pair of twin towers - one 6'10" / 275 and the other 6'11" / 250. It's just that that these guys - who shall remain nameless, because, as my mama always told me, "If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all ..." - couldn't block a shot made by me, who stands a rather unimposing 5'3" ... in heels.

So at the risk of sounding down in the mouth, I admit to expecting that this will be our Achilles' heel this season. Our outstanding offense has accommodated for this interior void by averaging 50% shooting from long-range, but in order for UK to really contend this year, one of two things has to happen: one of the two unnamed sucky centers will have to learn how to defend, or Terrence Jones, a studly forward who dropped 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in yesterday's game against Oklahoma, will have to play the part. Since the former is as likely to happen as my not drinking a Coke Zero every morning, I'm gonna vote for the latter.

T-Rock, the Big Blue Nation needs you.

After that, we went to Lahaina. Lahaina is an old whaling village not too far from our hotel. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it was also once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii! These days, it's a grand - and scenic - strand of shops, restaurants and, naturally, tattoo parlors. If the half-crazed man in the park was right, it's also home to the World's Third Largest Banyan Tree! The kids, of course, loved climbing around in it. The rest of us loved digging into the heaping Hula Pie we tried at Kimo's Restaurant.

Here's the "skinny" on the Hula Pie: it's an Oreo crust covered in macadamia nut ice cream, and topped with hot fudge encrusted with more nuts. Add to that some whipped cream, and voila! You have what Kimo's calls "the dessert that the sailors swam ashore for in Lahaina." They may call it that. I, on the other hand, call it "the dessert that's gonna make me have to swim back to the mainland, so I don't have to buy an upsized wardrobe when I get home."

Speaking of which, I'm off to the gym ... followed by beach time ... and then, most importantly, the UK game and, maybe, another slice of Hula Pie.